“The University of Texas will change its colors to maroon and white before Texas goes purple, much less blue.”

Governor Rick Perry

Gov. Perry was in D.C. Friday and Saturday. He met with Republican governors, most of whom – but not Perry – also attended the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which included a Sunday night dinner at the White House. (Perry returned home Saturday.)

The Wall Street Journal interview with Perry noted that, “Many political pollsters and demographers predict the state could get wobbly sooner than many Republicans think, possibly going blue by as early as 2020.

“Gov. Perry rejects that notion with his own version of “Remember the Alamo.” Why?

“It’s because of freedom,” he says. “People in Texas truly aspire to freedom. They don’t want government coming in and telling them how much of this or how much of that.”

“At heart, he argues, there’s just something about Texas. “Democrats are about government getting bigger and bigger and government providing more and more,” he says. “Texans have never been for that, and Texans never will.”

Not so fast

Not everyone in the Texas GOP shares Perry’s sure confidence.

At Real Clear Politics, Scott Conroy visited Austin and reports that, “While the knee-jerk reaction among many Republicans would be to dismiss the idea that the state could be competitive in 2016 — just four years after Mitt Romney carried it by 16 points over President Obama — Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri is in no mood to sneer.

“In an interview with RCP, Munisteri said that he has long taken seriously the possibility that Texas could become a battleground as early as 2016, particularly if Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic standard-bearer.